PKP zl. 929 million loss due to inefficient local services

Polish State Railways (PKP) made a net loss of zl. 929 million for 2001, increasing PKP's total debts to zl. 7.2 billion. Although this loss was much smaller loss of zl. 2.3 billion for the year before, PKP is even closer to bankruptcy. The largest losses relate to those in local train services. "This sector also needs capital to finance new rolling stock," said PKP's president Krzysztof Celinski during Wednesday's press conference. In the European Union (EU) such services are also not profitable and are subsidized by local government. In Poland the amount of subsidies to PKP from the state budget this year will be reduced from the planned zl. 500 million to zl. 300 million due to the crisis in the state budget. (Prawo i Gospodarka, pp. 1, 2), M.T.